Daliyat al Karmil, Israel (Special) -- In Israel, Jews think of Druze as the “friendly Arabs”--the Arabic-speaking minority group who are loyal to Israel and whose men serve willingly in Israel’s Defense Force. 

As the new mayor in this Druze village near Haifa, Ramzi Halaby wants to build upon those warm feelings. A professor of economic development at Tel Aviv University, Halaby wants to use the knowledge he gained while earning his doctorate there in behalf of his people. 
 

Elected just last November to a five-year term as mayor, Halaby believes a Druze cultural center and bed-and-breakfast establishments should be constructed in the region to attract not only international tourists, but also Israeli Jews, who feel more secure among the Druze than they do among other Arab-speaking peoples.  Halaby envisions exhibits at the cultural center about Druze history as well as demonstrations of such Druze customs as the elaborate engagement and wedding ceremonies of his people.  “I think we can market our special, traditional food, and the stories about our village, and the way that we make the pita bread and the lamb,” the mayor recently told HERITAGE.  In addition, “we have to develop more systems and an information center and a museum and other things that a tourist would like to see here.”  Right now the closest hotels are in Haifa, but if bed and breakfast establishments are developed within this village of 13,000, tourists will be able to spend more than a few hours here, Halaby noted.

Mayor and Visitor - Ramzi Halaby, left, is congratulated by Dr. Yonatan Peres, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

Besides being “friendly,” the Druze also are known for being “private.” Many details of their religion--which is an offshoot of Islam--are kept secret not only from outsiders but also from the main body of Druze themselves. 

Does Halaby fear that tourism may cause some of that privacy--and some Druze traditions--to be eroded? 

“It does not worry me,” the mayor replied.  “We are talking about globalization.  All the world is just a small town, and we are part of this town and you cannot stay alone in your village. ...We are a community in change all the time.  We too change our values even.  We are thinking all the time what we can keep and maintain from our traditions--the values that are very important for us to maintain and keep--and others that we have and must change. 

“For example,” he said, “let’s take the question of time.  In the Druze tradition, time is not very important; we are not talking like Americans, that ‘time is money.’ I would like our people to deal with time as Americans do.” 

In a Druze village, he explained, “a friend can say to you, ‘I am going to visit with you today,’ and you have to stay all the day waiting for him. I would prefer we copy the American way of life, and say, ‘I am going to visit you at 5 o’clock so wait for me then.’   This would give importance to the time of other people, and would deal with them another way.  We cannot develop an industry and modern systems without changing some of the things that we have to change in our values.” 

Another area where Halaby would like to see change is in the status of women in Druze society.   Essentially, they are village-bound.  Most are discouraged from working.  Those who do work are expected to stay close to home. As a rule, Druze women do not get a driver’s license, and to do so would raise a minor scandal.   It is considered inappropriate for a Druze woman to be alone with a man who is not a member of her family. 

Halaby believes that if such practices continue, “it will be a big minus for us.  Half of the society has to work and take part and participate in all the activities of our society,” he said.  “It should not be only the men.” 

On this issue, Halaby is not a lonely voice.  A year ago, Mallika Alkara was elected to the 13-member town council, the first woman to be so honored in the 50 years that Israel had been a state.   She had been eighth on her party’s candidate list, but five of the men who were nominated ahead of her resigned in her favor so that she could occupy a council seat and focus on trying to improve the educational system for Druze girls. 
 

Alkara’s daughter, Georgina, told me her mother’s term in office didn’t exactly shake down the walls of Druze society, but did result in eight other women running for office for the following term.  Two of the women candidates eventually will take their places on the council in a term-sharing arrangement in which men on their slate will take a portion of the five-year term and they will take another portion.  Alkara, who cooks at a popular restaurant and art gallery named for her husband, Hamood, believes the new mayor will help lead Daliyat al Karmil to a new era.“  "We need more people in the Druze community to be educated,” she said in an allusion to the fact that Halaby had campaigned on the idea that the city should invest its money not only in bricks and mortar infrastructure but also in the education of its young people.  Although Halaby went to university, and became an officer in the Israeli Army, and then returned to school to school to get a doctorate, many Druze men have been unable or uninterested in

Proud of Mom - Mallika Alkara, who was the first woman to serve on the city council of Daliyat al Karmil, is hugged by her daughter, Georgina, at Hamood's, the family restaurant and art gallery.

pursuing their educations. Instead they follow the traditional “macho” Druze professions of the military or serving as security guards. 

Besides tourism, Halaby wants to attract other industries with staying power and economic potential. Jobs in food and textile factories no longer are available in Daliyat al Karmil “because most of the traditional industries and simple industries have gone out of Israel to the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt,” the mayor explained. 

“That is very dangerous not only from the economic perspective but from the social one, so we need to develop new things, new ideas, new projects, in different domains and fields.” 

Halaby said Druze must do a better job in attracting their share of government funds.  “In Israel, you have to speak the language of Israelis--you know the Israeli word chutzpah? -- I think I have it too.  I use my Israeli chutzpah  to tell everyone that I want to have my rights here for my people and for my village.   As a man who considers himself Israeli and an Israeli Druze, I can get more, I think, for my region.  The other thing is planning.  We demand projects and help from the government and other institutions to give us the right things.  If you demand in the right way, you can get better results, I think.” 

As the interview at the mayor’s home was about to draw to a close, Halaby put up his hand to prevent me from taking my leave.  “I would like to say something,” he declared.  “We are looking for the way that we can cooperate with people everywhere, especially Jewish communities which would like to invest here in Israel, especially in a Druze village whose citizens are serving in the Army and are proud citizens of Israel,” he said. 

“Maybe the people where your newspaper is circulated would like to come to Daliyat al Karmil and see this place and maybe check the opportunities here and think about cooperation in cultural and economic projects.”